Stirring and conveying device for furnaces.



U. WEDGE.

STIRBING AND CONVEYING DEVICE FOR FURNACES.

APPLIOATION FILED 00'1'. 26,1908.

Patented July 6, 1909.

II w UTLEY WEDGE, OF ARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA.

STIRRING AND CbNVEYIN G DEVICE FOR FURNACES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 6, 1909.

Application filed October 26, 1998. Serial No. 459,541.

To all whom it may con 0cm:

Be it known that l, UILEY Wnnon, a citizen of the United States, residing in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Stirring and Conveying Devices for Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of furnaces in which a central rotating shaft is provided with projecting arms carrying blades or rabbles for stirring and feeding the matcrial upon the hearth. of the furnace, one ob ject of my invention being to prevent injury to the arm by the heat maintained in the Working chamber of the furnace, or, if the arm is cooled. by the flow of air or water through the same to prevent it from ab stracting heat from the hearth in furnaces where such abstraction of heat is to be avoided.

A further object of my invention is to provide an effective means for so nmunting the rabbles upon the stirrer arms that said rabbles will be at liberty to rise when they meet with obstructions which they cannot displace, and-Will have a constant tendency to seek the hearth when contact of the rabbles with the hearth is desirable.

In the accompanying draavinglfigure 1 is a plan or top view illustrating one of the stirrer arms and its rabbles, constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is an end view of the same; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the protecting blocks with which the stirrer arm is provided, and .l ig. L is a plan view illustrating a modification of the invention.

In the drawing, represents part of the stirrer shaft, which is rotated in the direc tion of the arrow F g. 1, and has any desired number of projecting stirrer arms 1 upon which the rabbles are pivotally mounted.

In a furnace of the type to which my invention relates, the stirrer arms, if not cooled by the flow of air or Water through the same, are rapidly burned out by the heat maintained in the working chamber of the furnace, and, if so cooled, they have a tendency to abstract heat from the hearth of the furnace, and sometimes this is objectionable, censequently it is advisable in either of these cases to prevent the stirrer arms, in so far as it is possible to do so, from absorbing the heat. In carrying out my invention, therefore, I provide each stirrer arm 1" with sheathing blocks or sleeves 2, of firebr1ck or other refractory and non-conducting or protective material. These blocks may be simple sleeves slipped lengthwise onto the arm and shaped to conform to the lather but, by preference, the end sleeves are pro vided with projecting under portions 2 for covering those portions of the stirrer arm which are not occupied by the hanger arms for the rabbles and the metal shoes to which said hanger arms are pivoted.

The shoes 3 are slipped onto the inner and outer ends of the stirrer arm and partially embrace the same, as shown in Fig. 2, each shoe having, at the forward end of the arm, a projecting ear 4 serving for the reception of a rod 5, upon which are pivotally mounted the hanger arms 6 for the rabbles, the rear ends of said hanger arms being connected by a bar 7, preferably dovetailed or undercut in cross section, and adapted for the reception of correspondingly shaped heads 9 on the rabbles 10, these heads being slipped longitudinally onto the bar 7, and, when in position thereon, being prevented from dis placement by a flange 11 at the inner end of the bar am by a pin or bolt 12 passing through an opening in the outer end of the bar and through a corresponding opening in the outermost rabble head. r

. If contact of the rabbles with the hearth of the furnace is desired, said rabbles are long enough to touch the hearth before the hanger arms touch the top of the stirrer arm, but if such contact is not desired the rabbles are properly shortened.

Outward displacement of the shoes 3 on the stirrer arm 1. is prevented by means of a bolt 13 adapted to an opening in an ear 14;: formed on the outer end of the arm, the head of the bolt preferably entering a notch 15 in the outer shoe 3, as shown in Fig. I.

By disposing the rabbles at onb side of the stirrer arm and pivoting them at the other side of the same a substantially vertical movement ofthe rabbles is permitted, and

yet said rabbles can be disposed so closely to the stirrer arm that the rabbles and their hangers can be readily passed through one of the ordinary openings in the outer wall of the furnace and the whole structure thus readily slip )ed onto the stirrer arm, the proferable method of accomplishing this result being to first mount the shoes, the rabblecarrying bar, its hanger arms and rabbles and the protective blocks 2 in their proper relation to one another upon a dummy arm,

the inner end of which is then brought into I register with the outer end of the stirrer arm and the whole structure then readily slipped from the dummy arm onto said stirrer arm and secured in position upon the latter, after removal of the dummy arm, by inserting the bolt 13. The protective covering for the arm 1 may be in as many sections as the length of the arm may suggest, and the rabble carrying bar 7 may have but one arm, or more than two, if desired.

In some cases, I may employ a single shoe on the stirrer arm, such for instance, as shown at 3 in Fig. 4, the pivot rod 5 being laterally confined thereto, and I may employ a sectional bar 7 upon which to mount the rabbles, in order to permit independent vertical movement of the rabbles or groups of the same, and the arms 6 may be so disposed that the sheathing blocks 2 can project beneath the same and into contact with the shoe, as shown in Fig. 4.

I have shown my invention as applied to a furnace in which the rabbles follow the stirrer arm, and are drawn forward by the same. When the rabbles precede the stirrer arm and are pushed ahead of the same, the pivot rod for the rabble hanger arms may be located at the rear of the stirrer arm.

1. A rabble-carrying arm. for furnaces having sheathing blocks applied thereto to pro tect it from the heat, and rabbles pivotally mounted u on said. arm.

2. Arab le-carrying arm for furnaces having rabbles pivotally mounted thereon, said arm being provided with sheathin blocks for protecting it from the heat, an certain of said blocks being cut away in part for the reception of the rabble mounts.

3. .The combination, in a furnace, of a shafthaving a projecting stirrer arm, with rabbles located at one side of said arm but pivoted at the other side of the same.

4:. The combination, in a i'urmrce, of a shaft having a projecting arm thereon, with rabbles located at the rear of said arm, but

pivoted at the front of the same.

5. The combination, in a furnace, of a shall; having a pro ecting stirrer arm thereon,

"' rabbles, and one or more detachable shoes on said stirrer arm, carrying pivoting means for said rabbles.

6. The combination, in a furnace, of a shaft having a projecting stirrer arm thereon, rabbles, detachable shoes at the inner and outer ends of the stirrer arm, and pivoting means for the rabbles carried by said shoes.

7. The combination of the projecting stirrer arm of a furnace with a bar located at one side of said stirrer arm, and having one or more projecting hanger arms whereby it is pivoter at theother side of the stirrer arm, and rabbles, each having a head engaging said bar.

8. The combination of the projecting stirrer arm of a furnace with a bar located at one side of said arm and having one or more projecting and pivoted hanger arms, and rabbles, each having a head engaging said bar by means of an undercut connection.

9. The combination of the )rojecting stirrer arm of a furnace with a bar ocated at one side of said arm and having one or more projecting and pivoted hanger arms, rabbles, each having a head adapted to the bar, and means for preventing longitudinal displacement of said rabble heads on the bar.

10. The combination of the projecting stirrer arm of a furnace, rabbles, detachable shoes on the stirrer arm carrying a pivotal mounting for said rabbles and means for preventing longitudinal displacement of said shoes on the arm.

11. The combination of tho stirrer arm of a furnace, detachable shoes thereon carrying a )ivot rod, a bar having one or more arms whereby it is pivoted to said rod, and. rabbles each having a head engaging said bar.

In testimony whereof, I. have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

, U'IliiGY WEDGE.

W lilIlCSSQSI HmnL'roN D. Tununn, KATE A. BEADLE. 

